York School Board Cancelling High School Courses Due To Doug Ford's Cuts

This isn't the first school board that has cut classes this year.

York Region's high school students will now have fewer course options to choose from as the York Region District School Board is cancelling over 100 high school courses for the upcoming school year. In the announcement today, the school board is blaming the upcoming cuts that have been implemented by Ford's Government for the reasoning behind these class cancellations. This announcement comes shortly after the Toronto District School Board announced that they would be canceling over 300 high school courses by next year.

CBC reports that the York Region District School board sent out a letter to parents this week outlining the changes that will be occurring in the upcoming year. The letter states that 159 courses have been affected across 33 secondary schools in the region. Out of these 159 courses, 133 of them have been cancelled, while 36 will have fewer classes.

Some of the courses that are being cancelled through the York Region District School Board are kinesiology, hospitality and tourism, and financial accounting principles. Media studies, music, visual arts, and French courses are all being cut from the school programs as well. You can view a complete list of the courses that are being cut here.

Of course, the school board is blaming these cuts due to the bigger class sizes that Ford has implemented. Last month, Ford's government stated that the average class size in Ontario would be increasing from 22 to 28 students per teacher. The York Region District School Board is blaming this class growth as well as the cuts to provincial funding for these class cancellations.

While the government has assured that these cuts would help to benefit the students, the York Regional District School Board has made it clear that this is not the case.

Board Chair Corrie McBain and Director of Education Lousie Sirisko released a statement where they recognized that these cancellations will affect the students. They state that "schools are currently working with students to find alternative options to ensure they continue on their chosen pathways".

York Region District School Board isn't the first school board to announce the cancellation of high school courses. Two weeks ago, the Toronto District School Board also pointed their fingers at Doug Ford as they canceled over 300 high school courses around the district.

TDSB announced that a majority of their elective courses are being canceled, and compulsory courses including English, Math, and Science will see larger class sizes and combined grades due to these changes.

The York school board also claims that they expect to lose more than 90 teaching positions this year through the process of attrition.